Aside from platinum, precious metals futures advanced Wednesday. Gains ranged from 0.5% for gold to 2.1% for palladium. On Tuesday, gold ended at an almost four-month low. The yellow metal has been yo-yoing from modest losses to modest gains for nearly a week now.
Gold for June delivery rose $6.20 to settle at $1,279.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"With the dollar churning higher and rates holding the most-recent rebound (back to the pre-March Fed meeting levels), the bullish case for gold has weakened significantly," MarketWatch quoted analysts at Sevens Report Research.
"Near term, further declines can be expected as the [fourth quarter 2018] rally unwinds. But on a longer time frame, nothing has changed as gold has been pinned in a trading range between roughly $1,150 and $1,350 since 2016."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,270.50 to a high of $1,280.70. They fell 0.3% on Tuesday — ending at their lowest price since Dec. 26, and they edged up 0.1% on Monday.
Silver for May delivery added 12.5 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $14.916 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $14.74 and $14.96. They dropped 1.2% on Tuesday and gave back 0.1% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
July platinum declined $5.20, or 0.6%, to $888.60 an ounce, ranging from $887 to $897.90.
- Palladium for June delivery jumped $29.50 to $1,405.10 an ounce, trading between $1,370.50 and $1,409.50.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM
- Gold rose $2.15, or 0.2%, to $1,271.65 an ounce.
- Silver declined 17 cent, or 1.1%, to $14.805 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales
United States Mint bullion sales advanced by 900 ounces in American Platinum Eagles. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | February | March | April | 2019 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 900 | 500 | 900 | 2,400 | 4,000 | 3,000 | 36,500 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,500 | 11,000 | 8,500 | 5,500 | 69,500* |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 19,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 26,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 130,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 0 | 6,000 | 5,500 | 4,500 | 39,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,057,500 | 850,000 | 550,000 | 7,475,000 |
| Lowell 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 80,000 | 0 | 80,000 |
*The U.S. Mint trimmed April’s total by 1,500 coins bringing the week-to-date total down to 2,500 coins and the year-to-date total down to 69,500 coins.
